Performance Review (The Summit, Houston)
September 3, 1982 at The Summit
Being a white, Anglo-Saxon, heterosexual male, I was obviously biased, but I tried to keep my air of professional objectivity going into The Summit. However, I think my friend put it best when he remarked, “I’d like to meet the fifteen year old who planned this show.”
He’s right. Although Olivia Newton-John has true talent, the performance that Friday night was just too planned. It was like watching a bad television special and the credits at the end made it all too real.
Tom Scott was her opening and backup band and quite frankly, was totally negligible. He seemed nice enough, but there just isn’t enough to cut it as a musical force. He did a total of four songs for his set, which was quite enough for me. Thank god they didn’t have to switch equipment, or else I would have fallen asleep before my commercial goddess appeared on the scene.
I’ve always maintained that Olivia is a true talent, she’s only been misdirected her show proved that. While I’m sure she was trying to appease us more modern musically-inclined people with er neato hairdo; her show was full of the same old kiss garbage: the smoke, the outfits, and even the little glistening flakes that fell upon the first few rows (me included) really. It’s just that she didn’t impress me. Her moves were too limited and not until the encore did I finally see any spark in her, but it was too late.
Clearly she worked best as a solo performer because I wish I could perform as badly as her male singing partner and get on stage. Her final song, “I Honestly Love You” was, of course dedicated to the audience. It was performed perfectly, yet any moment I expected a makeup man to come out and apply glycerine drops. She hasn’t quite yet perfected her on-cue tears.
Overall though, it was an entertaining show, and I don’t think that Olivia has ever tried to give anything else. I’m also positive that this is one of the most sincere people alive. Nothing else, nothing more.
Theron Patrick
p.s. Beware of her new song. It has to be some of the most commercial garbage I’ve heard in a long time. And if this is the new Olivia, I’ll stick with her as a country star!
Editor's Note - This refers to The Summit, Houston, TX, USA September 3 1982 concert